Sylvester Stallone accused 30 years ago of allegedly having group sex with teen, police say

Academy Award nominee Sylvester Stallone and his bodyguard, Michael “The Duke” De Luca engaged in group sex with a 16-year-old girl at a Las Vegas hotel and then threatened to “beat her head in” if she ever told anyone, according to a 1986 police report obtained by the Baltimore Post-Examiner.

No charges were ever filed in the July 26, 1986 incident because under the laws of Nevada, the age of consent is 16 and the victim claimed she consented. However, the bodyguard did lose his permit to carry a gun, according to the police report. Stallone and De Luca were never interviewed by the police and the case was dropped, according to the 12-page police report.

Stallone in 2012 (Wikipedia)

Stallone’s attorney Martin Singer did not return repeated calls for a comment. Stallone was 40 years old at the time of the incident in 1986.

De Luca, who was 27 in 1986, was shot and killed during a traffic stop Sept. 6, 2013 by Port Hueneme California police. De Luca crashed his truck and reportedly told officers he had a gun when he got out of his vehicle. Police feared he was reaching for it and shot him. No gun was found.

The woman, now 46, said that the incident has haunted her for three decades, but has come forward because she wants Stallone to understand how his actions have impacted her life. The Baltimore Post-Examiner does not identify names of victims or children of sexual incidents.

“He should be ashamed of himself, what he did to me affected my life and destroyed me,” she said in an exclusive interview with the Baltimore Post-Examiner.

She said she hopes by telling what happened to her in 1986 would help other girls be more careful of who they see as role models so they don’t become a victim. She said the detailed police report was accurate. She claimed Stallone and De Luca had sexual intercourse and oral sex with her at a Las Vegas Hilton Hotel in July 1986.

She said that she hasn’t talked a lot about it to family members, but the incident has been locked up in the back of her head, and has affected her relationships with men over the years.

“I am scared of men and have a hard time sticking up for myself around men, I am a loner,” she said in a phone interview.

Stallone did not offer her money for silence and she had no further contact with him or De Luca after the incident, she said. They had threatened her to keep quiet, but at the time she thought they were joking. Now, she isn’t so sure if it was joke.

Asked what she would say to him if she ran into him, she said she would ask him bluntly: “Being a star and someone who people looked up to and admired, how could you have done that to me?”

Since the incident she has refused to watch any of Stallone’s movies, including Creed, where he has been nominated for an Oscar. She said she cannot stomach even seeing him on television.

After the sexual encounter in 1986, the woman said she has one lasting memory. “I can never forget the smirk Mike [De Luca] had on his face as he looked at me as I left the room,” she said.

A family member of the woman also confirmed that the incident has left emotional scars that have remained with her throughout her life. The woman has yet to seek counseling help, but after opening up about the incident during this interview, her family member said it might lead her to get professional counseling.

Police Report: Stallone subject of sexual assault in 1986

The police report provides a graphic account of what happened to the 16 year old in July 1986.

Stallone was riding on success that year. He had just turned 40 and was in Las Vegas, Nevada filming another movie, Over the Top.

Newspaper clipping of Stallone and De Luca on a shopping spree.

Some parts of the movie were being filmed at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel where Stallone also was residing in suite 2767 during the filming. De Luca was with Stallone.

Las Vegas Hilton Security notified the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on a possible sexual assault that had occurred July 26 in suite 2767. The suspects were Stallone and De Luca, and the victim was 16, the police report said.

The victim had come forward two days after the assault. She told police she met Stallone in the hotel where the movie was being filmed, according to the police report. She was able to get Stallone’s autograph, and he then asked her name and how old she was. She told him 16 but almost 17.

Stallone asked her “how she got such a build and she said that she just blushed,” the report said. She said that during the conversation one of her friends had gotten a kiss on the cheek from Stallone and that she had asked Stallone for a kiss at which time he replied that “he would give her a kiss at a later date that she would not forget,” the report said.

After that conversation, she got another autograph from his director of the picture and then left the stage area where the movie was being filmed.

She returned to the filming location at the hotel on July 26 with a larger photo of Stallone and asked to get him to autograph it for her. She said that the photo was for one of her friends. Stallone’s bodyguard then gave her two keys for room 2767.

De Luca asked her if Stallone made a pass at her what would she do? She said that she would probably make a pass back at him, according to the police report. After De Luca gave her the keys, he advised her to go up to the room as soon as possible.

Stallone with Brigitte Nielsen, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan at the White House, 1985 – a year before the incident with the 16 year old.

She met Stallone and De Luca in the hallway and all three entered the room. She said that Stallone and her went into the bedroom and had sexual intercourse while De Luca was in the bathroom during the incident, according to the police report.

Stallone then asked De Luca to join them where they took turns engaging in oral and sexual intercourse with her, the report said. At one point, Stallone got up briefly and masturbated in a corner of the room, according to the police report.

She said that after she got dressed, Stallone told her that they were “both married men and that she could not tell anybody” about the incident. If she did, that they would have to “beat her head in,” according to the police report. She said he and De Luca both laughed after the comment and she first took it as a joke. However, after leaving the room, the report said that she became very distraught and frightened, and wasn’t sure that the threat had been a joke.

She was asked if she wanted to file a crime report and she told police that she did not want to get Stallone in trouble, the report said. Police asked her if she had any idea that by going up to the suite that she would be involved in some type of sexual encounter with Stallone. She said she initially made up her mind that if any sexual encounter happened, that she would agree to it, according to the police report.

During the police interview she became emotionally upset numerous times, crying and sobbing and at certain points, unable to continue with the interview, the report noted. She was uncertain as to what she wanted to do. She indicated that if the sexual encounter only had been with Stallone, she would not pursue the matter, but due to the fact his bodyguard became involved in the sexual incident, she didn’t know what she wanted to do, the report said. The detective noted in the report that she would be a reluctant victim.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sexual Assault Unit detectives interviewed her the day after she reported the incident. She repeated the same story. They also indicated that she was extremely emotional, and several times she began to cry, stating that she felt very ashamed, according to the report.

When asked if she would consider criminal prosecution, she told police in 1986, “I’m humiliated and ashamed. I don’t want anybody else to have that happen to them, but I don’t want to prosecute. I cannot talk about this anymore, please leave me alone,” according to the report. Police chose not to file charges.

Police sources said detectives felt some type of punishment should be issued so on July 30, Las Vegas police detectives confiscated De Luca’s concealed weapon permit. De Luca was advised that he was no longer permitted to carry a concealed weapon within the Clark County area, the police report shows.

Stallone’s relationship with his half-sister

Less than one year after the Hilton incident, Stallone had a major problem closer to home and it came from his half-sister, Toni-Ann Filiti.

In a complaint that was to be filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1987, Filiti requested a trial by jury and asked for damages in excess of $25 million in connection with allegations that Stallone molested and sexually assaulted her throughout her childhood.

The statement, dated June 29, 1987 reads in part:

“Plaintiff Toni-Ann Filiti brings this action against, … her half-brother, for damages sustained as a result of his sexual assaults on her over an eight-year period, from 1979 through 1987. Defendant’s actions constitute a pattern of tortious incest, assault and battery, and negligent infliction of emotional distress which has continued until February 1987. Throughout plaintiff’s childhood, defendant held himself out to plaintiff as her guardian and protector, as an authority figure. In many respects he purported to serve as a surrogate parent to plaintiff. Starting in or about 1979, and continuing to on or about March, 1987, defendant terrorized plaintiff through repeated forcible sexual assaults, which included molesting her, ripping her clothes off, forcing himself upon her, forcibly engaging in sexual acts against her will, including sexual intercourse and oral/genital sex, and otherwise restraining her from escaping from him through physical force and intimidation.

Stallone and his half sister Toni-Ann. She was an actress who appeared in the movie, The Appointment.

Defendant prevented plaintiff from revealing his pattern of physical, sexual and psychological abuse toward her by threatening to harm her and their mother with serious injury, thus putting her in fear for her and her mother’s life. Plaintiff reasonably believed defendant’s threats, and acted according to them, because defendant had always held himself out to her as an authority figure and a person of sufficient power, wealth, and notoriety to be able to carry out his threats. In that regard, upon information and belief, defendant has employed bodyguards and others to injure people at defendant’s instructions. Moreover, defendant, himself has inflicted grievous bodily harm on others without justification and out of sheer malice.

It was not until April, 1987 that plaintiff was able to seek assistance to help her try to stop defendant’s ongoing pattern of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. As a direct result of defendant’s conduct, plaintiff suffered and continues to suffer severe physical injury, and severe and permanent psychological and emotional pain and trauma, including, but not limited to, severe distress, humiliation, anxiety, and depression. She has been unable to function in a work situation, and for a period of years has been a recluse. As a consequence of defendant’s familial relationship with plaintiff, his holding himself out as a trustworthy, protective brother, as a role model and an authority figure, and as a result of the shame and humiliation of being forced to commit acts of incest with her half-brother, and the fear and terror which defendant inflicted on plaintiff, plaintiff was unable, psychologically, to take steps to help herself or to seek help.”

The case never made it to the courts.

On July 30, 1987 just about one year after the Las Vegas Hilton incident, Filiti and Stallone agreed to settle the case.

In addition to a lump sum of $2 million, Filiti also was awarded $50,000 for medical bills and psychiatric care, every year for the remainder of her life, in addition to monthly payments of $16,666.

Under the agreement secret audio recordings – allegedly conversations between Stallone and Filiti that some say could have bolstered her claims of abuse -were ordered to be destroyed. Sources said not all the tapes were destroyed, but so far no tapes have appeared.

Stallone denied the allegations of sexual abuse and Stallone’s mother, Jackie Stallone, told the media in 2013 that Filiti blackmailed Stallone and that it was nothing more than a “shakedown.” She said Filiti was a drug addict who extorted money from Stallone when he was at the height of his fame in 1987, according to the Daily Mail and New York Post.

Filiti was not around to defend herself when her mother made those statements to the press because Filiti died from lung cancer in 2012.

Her son, Edd Filiti has told reporters that his mother was made into a “black sheep” and said that she had told him of the abuse she suffered before she died. Edd has consistently defended his mother and insists Stallone had allegedly abused her when Stallone was younger and then paid her hush money to make the scandal go away.

Supporters of Filiti’s allegations point to a contract clause attached to the Settlement Agreement in 1987, which said Filiti could speak to licensed psychiatrists, medical doctors or other mental health professionals, “where such statements or disclosure are made in confidence for the purpose of obtaining treatment.” Victims of sexual abuse often seek professional counseling.

Stallone agreed to the clause but throughout the years his defense has been she was a drug addict who needed treatment.

Edd also was accused of leaking information to the Baltimore Post-Examiner, and was being pressured to recant what he had told the media about his mother confiding in him about the alleged sexual abuse, sources said. He reportedly had a meeting with Stallone where he was asked to keep quiet, according to an August 2015 text message obtained by the Baltimore Post-Examiner involving Edd replying to Frank Stallone, Sylvester Stallone’s brother.

The text message reads as follows:

Frank Stallone: “Ed it was my fault it was totally misinterpreted. Sly said you guys had a good time there is no problems. I totally apologize. Uncle Frank.

Edd Filiti : “.. Sly told me to keep our conversation quiet, so I did, I want to believe your good people but there isn’t any reason for me to, I didn’t tell her what he said to me, as I promised, he did, so she’d be even angrier against me, I thought I was doing the right thing, and this would bring peace to the family like my mom wanted…and don’t you f*cking dare disgrace her name..and don’t insult me by pretending to give a shit about me, or anyone but the family image…..my mother didn’t deserve any of this, all she had was infinite f*cking love for everyone…shit the f*ck up and let me calm. This is evil its sick, your all sick and theres blood on my hands, I was trying to help.

Edd Filiti could not be reached for comment.

About the author

Doug Poppa is a US Army Military Police Veteran, former law enforcement officer, criminal investigator and private sector security and investigations management professional with 40 years of experience. In 1986 Mr. Poppa was awarded “Criminal Investigator of the Year” by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia for his undercover work in narcotics enforcement. He was also re-assigned to the Northern Virginia Regional Narcotics Enforcement Task Force for 18 months. In 1991 and again in 1992 Mr. Poppa’s testimony under oath in court led to the discovery that exculpatory evidence was withheld from the defense by the prosecutor and sheriff’s office officials during the 1988 trial of a man accused of attempted murder of his wife that led to his conviction. As a result of his testimony the man was ordered released from prison, given a new trial in 1992 and found not guilty. Mr. Poppa became the subject of local and national news media attention as a result of his testimony which led to the demise of his 12-year police career. After losing his job, at the request of the FBI, Mr. Poppa infiltrated in an undercover capacity a group of men who were plotting the kidnapping of a Dupont Chemical fortune heir and his wife in 1992. His stories have been featured on Inside Edition, A Current Affair, and CBS News’ Street Stories with Ed Bradley. Contact the author.